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not supposed to be here, he had said. Who are you? What are you doing here? And when I’d started to ask him if he’d tried AA for his drinking problem, he’d said— “George?” Now she sounded worried as well as concerned. “What is it? What’s wrong?” The fans had totally gotten into the call-and-response thing. The cheerleaders shouted “JIM” and the bleacher-creatures shouted back “LA.” Fuck off, Jimla! That was what the Yellow Card Man who’d become the Orange Card Man (although not yet the dead-by-his-own-hand Black Card Man) had snarled at me, and that was what I was hearing now, tossed back and forth like a medicine ball between the cheerleaders and the twentyfive hundred fans watching them: “JIMLA, JIMLA, JIMLA!” Sadie grabbed my arm and shook me. “Talk to me, mister! Talk to me, because I’m getting scared!” I turned to her and managed a smile. It did not come easy, believe me. “Just crashing for sugar, I guess. I’m going to grab those Cokes.” “You aren’t going to faint, are you? I can walk you to the aid station if—” “I’m fine,” I said, and then, without thinking about what I was doing, I kissed the tip of her nose. Some kid shouted, “Way to go, Mr. A!” Rather than looking irritated, she wriggled her nose like a rabbit, then smiled. “Get out of here, then. Before you damage my reputation. And bring me a chili dog. Lots of cheese.” “Yes, ma’am.” The past harmonizes with itself, that much I already understood. But what song was this? I didn’t know, and it worried me plenty. In the concrete runway leading to the refreshment stand, the chant was magnified, making me want to put my hands over my ears to block it out. “JIMLA, JIMLA, JIMLA.”
PART 4 SADIE AND THE GENERAL
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Thank you for downloading this Scri
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It is virtually not assimilable to
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11/22/63
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uddy who had demonstrated the true
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PART 1 WATERSHED MOMENT
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those little squiggles he put on th
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3 Al’s Diner was housed in a silv
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“Long story short, I went to a do
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with all that stupid talk about Al
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toward him. He leaned on the stack
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CHAPTER 2 1 I took another step for
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where all the women have big bazonk
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a style I recognized (from old movi
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off the rest of my beeyah and stood
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narrow lane unless they happened to
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get-together?’” “Always the s
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CHAPTER 3 1 The gnome did indeed ha
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But I sat down. 3 “Do you know th
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—” He started coughing again, t
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down at the backs—that he didn’
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I mean.” “Would it have to be k
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over again. “I plugged her name i
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Stephanie Routhier.” “Just anot
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CHAPTER 4 1 Al let me help him into
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student work, no teacher does—you
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was trying to crawl under the bed.
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eyebrows even at a convenience stor
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my sorrow. But he’s not dead wher
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PART 2 THE JANITOR’S FATHER
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hunched his thin shoulders all the
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Sabattus? I think that’s it. Do y
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the bank. That made me remember the
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6 I got the clothes Al had recommen
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The taxi driver was a fat man who w
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CHAPTER 6 1 The same chain-smoking
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monocle in one eye and a school pen
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Lemkes, some of them siblings, most
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crocodile. If it keeps up, this bur
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Late that afternoon, hopes dashed (
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clasped. He stoops a little and kic
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seconds, maybe. It was the sort of
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and saw Derry hulking on the west b
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CHAPTER 7 1 How should I tell you a
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He’s a nice man. Always joking ar
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4 On the following Tuesday, I rente
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passing off fantasies like the murd
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oom from the large table where Dunn
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Chaz saw me looking. “Frank knows
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10 I got used to the planes coming
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CHAPTER 8 1 In the weeks before Hal
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One of the people I spoke to was Do
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Trust me on the sickness part. I kn
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smoke, and eye-watering chlorine. T
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Had Tugga given him shit about that
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At first that didn’t compute. The
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That’s a laugh. You want to hear
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If I told him just the right way—
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here like a rabbit in a hole.”
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and dislocated her shoulder as well
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He smiled and closed his eyes. 14 I
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Chevron. I crossed the street towar
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PART 3 LIVING IN THE PAST
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again. “You look like you’ve lo
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throat like a playing card in the s
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6 I made it home, and this time it
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to say. But halfway through the fou
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Sorry, buddy, couldn’t wait. Too
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CHAPTER 10 1 I crossed the employee
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3 I drove up the Mile-A-Minute High
Page 143 and 144: He and the large lady (Frati looked
Page 145 and 146: athroom medicine cabinet, and my ne
Page 147 and 148: stop in spite of a green light, my
Page 149 and 150: 13 There was plenty about the World
Page 151 and 152: “It’s a simple enough assignmen
Page 153 and 154: of the land around Bowie Hill, wher
Page 155 and 156: kind of loony I am, Cullum will be
Page 157 and 158: CHAPTER 12 1 I took US 1 south. I a
Page 159 and 160: gossip in the billiard parlor next
Page 161 and 162: eal BS degree), I heard a psycholog
Page 163 and 164: protective cover—7 DAYS ONLY, BE
Page 165 and 166: You’d put your foot on it and cru
Page 167 and 168: father in his nakedness, and God cu
Page 169 and 170: his father’s gearshift. I’d jer
Page 171 and 172: “You come on back around six. Tha
Page 173 and 174: certain students, and at the librar
Page 175 and 176: 19 We’re going to take another le
Page 177 and 178: CHAPTER 13 1 It was seven forty-fiv
Page 179 and 180: Gorgeous girl? Check. Blonde? Check
Page 181 and 182: was thinking of nothing but this bi
Page 183 and 184: Three weeks later, just before scho
Page 185 and 186: “Deke first popped the question a
Page 187 and 188: working on either of my manuscripts
Page 189 and 190: I want you to meet. This is—” S
Page 191 and 192: “He seems to be bearing up,” El
Page 193: 9 At the game, practically everybod
Page 197 and 198: y a trim little man who wore horn-r
Page 199 and 200: Dunning, but I can’t say for sure
Page 201 and 202: “Yes, ma’am.” “That ain’t
Page 203 and 204: would be seven or eight years from
Page 205 and 206: The Stroll was the first step Chris
Page 207 and 208: my Ford steamed up. Then she pushed
Page 209 and 210: CHAPTER 15 1 At ten o’clock on th
Page 211 and 212: the grass. Now she picked up a Tupp
Page 213 and 214: “But keep them handy, honey.” A
Page 215 and 216: She smiled and kissed the corner of
Page 217 and 218: “I love you, too. No maybe or mis
Page 219 and 220: little hysterically. “Mama probab
Page 221 and 222: tighter, as if hugging could make i
Page 223 and 224: her jeans, then fumbled in the brea
Page 225 and 226: “Sadie? Are we all right?” “Y
Page 227 and 228: “I’ll always listen.” But she
Page 229 and 230: “The play, then. At least do the
Page 231 and 232: ever came right out and said so. An
Page 233 and 234: 8 Everybody in town did turn out, a
Page 235 and 236: was looking for a cheap rent becaus
Page 237 and 238: “I won’t. Not anymore. So don
Page 239 and 240: CHAPTER 17 1 A few days before the
Page 241 and 242: It was the last day of school. The
Page 243 and 244: you care about it, when you feel li
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something on it. She took it back a
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“I was stupid to come to Fort Wor
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closest thing to fireworks came jus
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I looked at my watch and said, “I
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13 It was almost dark when I got to
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students were wont to say, but West
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“Will you give us a minute?” Ro
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June. I thought Marina might point
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I fought against the temptation to
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one that wasn’t swollen). There w
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I wondered if I were mad. Surely th
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14 There was a moment of silence lo
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good dancer.” “Then let’s go
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“What do you want?” the younger
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ack. I listened to the comment twic
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“I sort of like Kennedy,” Lee s
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ut no takers. Until the Oswalds mov
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Browder Street coffee shop. There t
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cocksuckers right now!” There wer
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I ignored her. This wasn’t the fi
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assumption that people were going t
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She looked at me doubtfully, turned
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CHAPTER 20 1 So in the end it only
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“That turkey looks absolutely won
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it. Then he slugged her. She fell d
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8 The day after Sadie’s Boxing Da
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Walker closed his eyes and raised h
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2 That was on a Friday afternoon, a
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Marina invited her in. I waited unt
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Lee’s footfalls crossed above my
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I looked down and saw a fresh drag-
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I liked George de Mohrenschildt bet
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CHAPTER 22 1 The afternoon of April
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It made a rough trail from the livi
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light, I will kill this bitch and t
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casserole delivery.’ And raise th
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Her eyes widened. She was looking o
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CHAPTER 23 From the Dallas Morning
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“I don’t think I’m quite read
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more. “When this young woman’s
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him wink. Marina and Jeanne lapsed
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then taking a bus or train. And if
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eason for it.” 9 She wasn’t ove
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I moved into Deke’s Spanish-style
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Hunch-think: that again. I paid the
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lock?” “Of course not. Although
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“Only one problem. They’re aski
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“What’s wrong?” she asked.
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Ellen took Sadie—who was exhauste
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“Yes, honey.” “Can you predic
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his house, and I’d attended a few
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DALLAS’S WHITE KNIGHT! According
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CHAPTER 25 1 I stayed with Sadie on
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There was silence on the line while
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He got in and shut the door. “Abo
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Gavery was putting out fresh loaves
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She blushed, except for around the
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“I don’t think that would work,
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Tiger bounded happily to meet him,
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“Yes!” Sadie chirruped, resetti
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For a moment as I sat there in my c
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was me, panting. “I hope he fucki
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I fumbled the .38 out of my pocket
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“Puddentane,” I said. “Ask me
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murder his whole family.” She loo
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I shook my head. “Honey, you’ve
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We were coming into Dallas now. I m
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Yes. He still is. But you’re clos
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“That’s it, and I will.” I ha
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asked after Deke, wished her a good
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again before I got out of his sight
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(Parkland) while O works. Rifle sto
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een a success. According to newscas
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November 20, 1963 Dear Sadie, I hav
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play before the curtain goes up on
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CHAPTER 28 1 11/22/63 (Friday) I sa
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Lee’s murder—we’d simply have
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Cadillac Street. Only you knew that
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Sadie was standing on the curb and
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laid hold of the chrome doorhandle
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scraped her knees. “What time is
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I hurried to it and tried the passe
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“Because it was a girl’s,” I
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stacked book cartons. The overhead
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PART 6 THE GREEN CARD MAN
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exactitude because there was no clo
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happened, Mr. Amberson. I won’t s
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had to stretch my savings. When I g
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“—but he was a world-class fuck
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that dreamlike conversation while t
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something. He would pass it on to E
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“Where you did exactly what?”
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I wrote carefully, but it didn’t
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He offered me the three tickets lik
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CHAPTER 30 1 I stepped off my final
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“They’re saying seven thousand
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“Who are you?” I asked. “And
Page 439 and 440:
“Buying meat over and over again
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painted on the remains of the floor
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good-sized rock in it. That explain
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CHAPTER 31 1 He still lived on Godd
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“Ayuh. That was taken on our twen
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Sure it was. Maybe a Police Special
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“Yes.” The cannula had come ask
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The world well lost for love—was
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Here’s another thing I do know. T
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egin to come. They ache, they burn.
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ex-wife for months. The staff at De
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arber shop is gone, and the Cities
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gone, you can never get it back. Pa
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I’d put the probability at ninety
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Jack, I’m sure you’d understand
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10. If you could pick any other per
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it’s just one of the places where
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20. “In the Mood,” Glenn Miller
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top edge, or just pat back into the
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for 10 minutes. Slide a thin knife
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© SHANE LEONARD STEPHEN KING is th
Page 481 and 482:
The Colorado Kid Cell Lisey’s Sto
Page 483 and 484:
We hope you enjoyed reading this Sc
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